Missing

4

Chapter Four

The Next Saturday

I hadn't slept a wink the night before, my brain was constantly trying to decode the message. Trying to find a hidden meaning to what he was saying. I hadn't read the rest of the diary to look for clues yet, I decided the prioritise the short note.

Walking hazily down the stairs I noticed that the house was eerily silent, nobody was up which was strange because it was a Saturday and everyone seemed to always have something to do on a Saturday. When I had got downstairs I heard a small clank of cutlery which made my heart miss a beat but stopped me from feeling so creeped out. When I got to the kitchen I saw mother eating her breakfast while reading a newspaper silently, the sight gave me shivers which I brushed off.

"Where's Dad and Max?" I asked, grabbing a glass and filling it with orange juice.

"Gone out camping somewhere, they would have woken you up but I thought you'd be busy," she sipped at her tea innocently but I knew she had ultra motives for keeping my behind.

"Busy doing what exactly, its not like I ever do anything on a Saturday," I scoffed while buttering some toast and sitting opposite her.

"Well I thought you'd want to start cracking on that case," she averted her eyes down and said it casually as if I wouldn't care that she was forcing me to do something I wasn't keen on. Standing up I took my toast with me back up the stairs- I swear smoke could come out my nostrils.

I knew why she was forcing me to start solving the case and it wasn't for Mark's benefit- she just wanted another headline.

Teenage detective solves another case

Kansas- the cleverest teenager ever?

She wanted newspaper snippings to send to my grandparents and to frame on wall, she wanted a good dinner party story which she could boast about and most of all she wanted the publicity. She had relished in it before, when I had found out that it was the janitor who had been spiking the water fountain with date- rape drugs. She liked have media surrounding the house at all times, taking pictures like she was a star.

Running to my room, I threw on some clothes before sitting on my bed breathing heavily. As much as I didn't want to fall into my mother's ideas- I did want to solve the case. For Lacey. But I needed a game plan and that was the part I was struggling to make. There were so many people to question, so many things to investigate and I didn't quite know where to begin.

"Let's start with his friends," I told myself and with that, I stood up and grabbed my phone. This time I made it downstairs without being force fed my mother's views and I practically ran out the door to avoid confrontation from her. The air was crisp, the signs of autumn finally coming through, and leaves were beginning to carpet the pavement in their technicolor array.

I was heading down to the park, where they usually were found smoking and drinking substances that smelt like bleach. I didn't like to associate myself with people like that and I suppose they felt the same way about me- I was a nerd and they were popular. However I knew that my services would be useful enough for them to deal with me for a while.

The graffiti and smell of alcohol pierced my nose when I began to get closer and cigarette smoke seemed to cloud over the whole area.

"Oi Missy what do you think your doing on our patch?" A loud voice from behind boomed and I almost quaked in my shoes. Turning around I faced the familiar 'tough guys' that I saw around school pushing people into lockers and showing off their biceps to anyone who was standing near them.

"Hey its that girl, detective one remember?" He approached me and I recognized him to be Brent, the hard faced wrestler who looked about 30 years old.

"Yeah that's me, I'm Kansas," I didn't know what to do so I just stood there awkwardly while they approached. None of them were smiling.

"What you doing here girlie?" One spat at me, he had yellowed teeth and a shaved head which scared the living hell out of me.

"I'm asking about Mark, you know him?" My voice was much more timid than I wanted it to be.

"He was my mate- you gonna find him?" It saddened me how much Brent's voice changed when talking about Mark,he was more vulnerable. Weaker almost.

"I need to ask some things about how he was acting before he disappeared. Were there any changes in his behaviour? Was he acting weird?" I got my IPhone out to record what they were saying.

"Well," Brent looked at his friends for support, "He was acting a little off about a week ago. He wouldn't come out as much and when he did he was all jumpy and stuff. He kept looking around as if to see someone. He also didn't have as much money on him as before, he couldn't buy us any weed cause he said he didn't have enough for it. Which is strange cause he always had cash."

"So would you say that his behaviour changed massively a week prior to his disappearance?" I looked intently at the group of boys, all of them thinking back to the time.

"Yeah, he was completely different. I mean Mark was quite busy most nights doing stuff but he always tried to come out for a party. The week before he came out once I think," I nodded and waited to see if there was any more that they had to say.

"What kind of 'stuff' did he do most nights?" I was intrigued by the vagueness by Brent's answer. I couldn't tell if hr was hiding something or it was just Brent being Brent.

"I don't know man, he was always very private about that part of his life. We guessed it was just hooking up with girls but I don't know it could have been anything," I looked him in the eye to look for the signs of lying but failed to detect any.

"Thanks for your time, come to me with any new information," they all nodded me off and I walked home in deep thought. Mark had being doing things most nights, but the week before his disappearance he was the most busy he had been. I couldn't help but shiver at the thought of my childhood friend doing shifty, dark business under the cloak of darkness